It will no longer be possible to reach the "Detroit of Japan" from Detroit, Michigan, via a direct flight.
The 6,552-mile nonstop "Motor Town Express" route between Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Chubu Centrair International Airport (NGO) in Nagoya, Japan, will be shortened by Delta Air Lines, according to plans submitted over the weekend and later confirmed by a carrier representative.
On February 27, Delta will operate its final flight from Detroit to Nagoya, with a return journey on February 28.
The route-map pin will be removed from Delta's network with just over a month's notice.
Individuals who have reservations on the route will be fully refunded or accommodated on other Delta and SkyTeam alliance flights leaving the area.
By making the change, Delta would terminate transpacific service to the Japanese city, eliminating a route that the airline had previously acquired from Northwest Airlines before the two carriers' official merger in late 2009.
Because of Japan Airlines' service to Honolulu, Nagoya will continue to have a connection to the United States.
The Guam hub of United Airlines also has flights to Nagoya.
The history of Delta and its forerunners in Nagoya is illustrious.
Historical records indicate that the Northwest started providing service to this Japanese city from Detroit in 1998.
However, that trip from Portland was later discontinued, according to Airline Maps, when Delta began flying to Nagoya in 1991.
Northwest maintained and expanded its presence in Nagoya over the ensuing years.
Northwest's flights from Nagoya to Detroit, Guam, Manila, and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands were transferred to Delta as part of the Northwest merger.
With the arrival of nonstop flights to Honolulu in December 2010, Delta increased its foothold in this Japanese city.
In fact, at its busiest in March 2011, Delta was running nine daily flights to and from Nagoya.
However, it wasn't long before Delta began to reduce its presence in Nagoya; according to Cirium timetables, service to Manila was terminated in 2014, followed by that to Saipan in 2015, and then Guam in 2016.
The two remaining Delta flights to Nagoya were those to Honolulu and Detroit.
At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the abrupt termination of the Hawaii route led to the suspension of the Detroit service as well.
Only one route survived the epidemic, and that was the nonstop service between Detroit and New York, which started up again in April 2021 with once-weekly service on the airline's flagship Airbus A350-900.
When Delta increased service on the long route from Detroit to Nagoya to three times per week late last year, things appeared to be looking up. However, that confidence appears to have been misplaced as the airline is now abandoning the market entirely.
It's conceivable that Delta can no longer make the economics work without an official statement from the airline — Delta refuses to make one — as to the cause of the decrease.
Toyota's global headquarters and manufacturing facilities are close, making Nagoya a significant car industry hub for Japan.
America's three largest automakers, Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, were founded in Detroit, sometimes known as "Motor City."
The demand for luxury cabins on Delta's nonstop flight from car executives and other business leaders flying between the two cities for conferences, meetings, and special events was probably a major factor in the success of the service.
It's probable that Delta isn't experiencing as much demand on the route as it did before the epidemic since the pandemic has altered the standards for online meetings and conferences.
Regardless, it's a disappointing conclusion for Delta's presence in the fourth-most populous city in Japan.
The airline based in Atlanta will centralize all of its Japanese operations to Haneda Airport (HND) in Tokyo, where it runs a brand-new Sky Club, without Nagoya.
The destinations that are serviced by Delta from Haneda include Atlanta, Detroit, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, and Seattle.
FACEBOOK